I actually think that our supporter base is part of the problem. We don’t make the club accountable enough! It is time that we dropped the MCC behaviour and became a bit feral. It is just the catalyst for change that is needed!

I actually think that our supporter base is part of the problem. We don’t make the club accountable enough! It is time that we dropped the MCC behaviour and became a bit feral. It is just the catalyst for change that is needed!

Yep.

We were all talking about making finals not being good enough in the pre-season

Last year, the conversation was about keeping the players heads “in the moment” and enjoying each contest/game.

Since Peter Jackson left the club has gone from taking it week by week to patting itself on the back and bathing in undeserved accolades.

We are back to being an irrelevant, self congratulating, weak willed, over rated bunch of very mentally soft individuals trying to run a business .

The focus has gone off the on field application of dogged competitiveness.

The writing was on the wall in the pre-season.

Big names mean nothing. Reputation means nothing.

Its simply about what they put out each week that counts for everything.

At the moment we are putting out about 20-30 minutes of half decent football a week.

Supporters deserve more.

The whole club is a disgrace and should be stripped back from top to bottom.

Bartlett,Pert,Goodwin all need to take the blame.

Terrible decisions allowed this to be a wasted year instead of being another chance to gain finals experience.

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That game was emblematic of our season. Lacked talent, lacked class, lacked cohesion, lacked ‘connection’. Lacked leadership. Passengers and work experience kids. Not good enough. We have absolutely no chance of anything this year, except an early draft pick.

We all want someone to blame. Don’t know who, but what they offered was not us getting better, but going significantly backwards. So the whole club has to wear it. Not good enough.

To be fair until this year we had improved year on year since Roos took over. This isn’t excusing our season but we are having our dip in the cycle that in my gut I kinda felt was going to come.

The biggest error the club can make right now is just continue on our current trajectory with a game plan that clearly isn’t working. This year has worth to it, massive worth that I firmly believe could take us all the way in the future. It sounds ridiculous but I’m actually upbeat because I was worried that we would make a crazy charge for the finals and smash our players into the ground in the process.

Finals are now mathematically basically gone, focus on 2020 and what we can get out of this year. I would actually like to see the club and football department undergo a rigorous analysis ASAP of the game plan, how we see it being tweaked or completely changed, who we need to target whether that’s players or coaches, and start the wheels turning now.

Geelong before their push into that first premiership run had a bad year (although not as bad as we’ve got going now) but they used it to set things up. We have to do the same.

This is a really positive post, thank you.

Look, I broadly agree with you. The only problem is that the Lions (Brisbane era) don't have our tag of being a basket case. I could have mentioned Freo, too. They're not bad, and they'll get better.

The Cats were supposed to be finished last year, now look at them! What I'm trying to say is that, ordinarily, a backwards slide wouldn't be such a big issue. But we have form in this area. So it's more concerning. This year has been a freefall in terms of skills and coaching.

I also think we should 100% focus on 2020 as of right now, including managing anyone who is carrying an injury, trialling new positions and players etc. But I also think we should have done a lot of that in the off season.

When the disappointment of this year wears off (like the other years, the stink of this one will fade), I'm sure that I'll be excited for 2020 (hopefully we'll have perfect vision for the year). But until then, we're stuck watching a team with poor skills and a coach who doesn't seem to see how far off the mark we are, or what to do to fix it.

But you're right, we have an opportunity. Our list is decent, I hope we go in all guns blazing to get the extra class we need. The ones who remain will need to make sure they start the year with an unwavering commitment to improving their skills, and playing consistent, fearless footy.

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From what I saw (second half only), we lost this game through two areas: our midfield got badly beaten, and we gave up goals at critical times through turnovers.

Brisbane are a high scoring side and don't bring defensive pressure that much. They feed off centre clearances and turnovers and we gave both to them with far too much ease.

The number of times we would have a chain of possession going but would either kick directly to a Lion, or miss a target and turn a 100% mark into a 50/50% contest, or we'd fumble on a chain of handpasses, or we'd drop a mark - we just kept doing it over and over again. And we couldn't get on top in the middle so we couldn't stop their momentum from the contest either.

We can't keep playing Hunt, ANB, Hannan and Weideman in the same forward half, when most weeks they are all passengers. Something needs to change in that area.

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From what I saw (second half only), we lost this game through two areas: our midfield got badly beaten, and we gave up goals at critical times through turnovers.

Brisbane are a high scoring side and don't bring defensive pressure that much. They feed off centre clearances and turnovers and we gave both to them with far too much ease.

The number of times we would have a chain of possession going but would either kick directly to a Lion, or miss a target and turn a 100% mark into a 50/50% contest, or we'd fumble on a chain of handpasses, or we'd drop a mark - we just kept doing it over and over again. And we couldn't get on top in the middle so we couldn't stop their momentum from the contest either.

We can't keep playing Hunt, ANB, Hannan and Weideman in the same forward half, when most weeks they are all passengers. Something needs to change in that area.

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Nah that's rubbish. Hipwood was the difference today, if TMac or Weird could play with his presence we win.

We lack composure, play on at all costs can work but not if you start moving before even checking to see what's ahead of you. We sell our teammates into trouble and have no options forward of the ball because we don't have the intelligence to hold things up for a couple of seconds here or there.

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One thing that really annoys me is that after last week Goodwin and Co were talking up the fact that there was better connection between midfield and forwards. That disconnect still clearly exists, countless times we did look away bombs or kicking it to positions that weren’t in our favour.

Our midfield has gone from looking like a 8/10 stunner to a donkey. I don’t know what’s happened to Gus but all the poise and good play he had last year has completely left him. Oliver is still over handballing and when he does kick it it’s generally not great. A typical game from Petracca today, kicks 2 early goals and barely seen after that. And Viney, I just wonder if he is carrying something, looks half a meter off the pace.

Give Gawn the week off, Preuss had a good game for Casey and the season is officially done. No point in risking him.

Two key plays in the 3rd quarter which helped turn the game. Petracca fumbles a ball 15m out with a player free in the goal square. We throw away a simple goal.

Tmac drops a sitter 25m out on the lead uncontested. We throw away another simple goal.

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From what I saw (second half only), we lost this game through two areas: our midfield got badly beaten, and we gave up goals at critical times through turnovers.﻿

There you have it.

Re the turnovers, the usual offenders, and in particular the bottom 6. Lockhart seems to have a good sense of what's going on around him, plus enough skill to do what's required in response. But Baker, Hannan, Petty, Frost, Tim Smith are often the cause of breakdowns in possession chains. Add to that players like Viney, Hunt, Petracca, Tom Mac, Brayshaw, and sometimes I wonder how we can keep possession at all.

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Been following this club for so long and witnessed so many false dawns I can read 'em like a book.
Needless to say I gave up on the year in disgust after Rd5 and refused for the 1st time in 20yrs not to renew my membership and 1st time in 10 not to renew my family membership.
Haven't bothered making the 700K round trip for a single game.
Only this club embarrasses themselves and their supporters repeatedly like they do.
The game plan is garbage, the players skills are garbage and the coach we've locked in for the next 3 is garbage.
Can shove his chaos ball up his butt.
Last years spike was a fluke.
If it wasn't for Brisbanes woeful goal kicking the game today would have been over by the 3rd.
Despite their poor kicking we were still in the game till TMac dropped his weekly sitter resulting in a turnover and goal up the other end.
Even with 20sec left in the 3rd with the ball deep in our forward line I knew knew we'd cough up a goal before the qr was over.
Sure enough, Hipwwod takes a mark in the pocket and kicks another after the siren.
Game over.
We don't come back from that stuff.
Now just watch us get rolled by Carton next week.
Can read 'em I tell ya.

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Nah that's rubbish. Hipwood was the difference today, if TMac or Weird could play with his presence we win.

We lack composure, play on at all costs can work but not if you start moving before even checking to see what's ahead of you. We sell our teammates into trouble and have no options forward of the ball because we don't have the intelligence to hold things up for a couple of seconds here or there.

Hear hear. I felt we had them reasonably covered today despite getting hammered in the clearances. Except the chaos ball was contagious and we completely lost our composure - constantly playing on to disadvantage. (Posted these stats earlier: Last week kick to handball differential: 87. This week: 31). Fast movement is fantastic. From a mark, it's not going to be compromised by taking two seconds to assess the lay of the land and select the best option. But is it intelligence or immaturity? (Or personnel mix?).

Match Previews, Reports & Articles

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Thanks to Demonlanders for their input into this week’s preview.
Ralphius Maximus is short and bittersweet:
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Big Demon says:
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